Inequalities Which Affect Scores of Advertisements

Abstract

THE TYPE OF measurement which we are discussing can be given more precise psychological definition than is usually accorded to it. We are not measuring the visibility of an advertisement at the time it was observed but rather the admission of a previous observation and of its association with some product or service offered for sale. The fact of association is determined while the advertisement is being examined though this may be done with or without masking a portion of the material. There may be considerable doubt by many of us as to whether this is truly an important measure of the persuasive qualities of an advertisement. The question about what is being measured and the question as to whether or not that which is measured has market significance are concerned with the validity of the examination. Although this paper is principally interested in the way the measurement is made, a few comments on its validity are not entirely out of order. We may take, for example, the association of the product with the advertisement at which the subject is looking. There is an old illustration of a psychological distinction that is so apt in this case that it bears repeating. It is the common case of having a good memory for faces but such a poor memory for names. Now you don't remember the face or the name. You recognize the face and you associate a name with it. The face is always there but the name is not. One method of advertisement examination takes you to a party where every face is conspicuously labeled with a name and asks if you have met the people before. The other method leaves you in your